Congress wants Medicaid recipients to work. Georgia provides a model

Georgia could soon become the poster child for administering Medicaid with work requirements — for better or worse.

As Congressional Republicans seek to pass a budget bill enacting President Donald Trump’s agenda, they’re looking to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive their health care coverage. Georgia is presently the only state in the nation with work requirements for its Medicaid population.

Here, Medicaid provides government-funded health care for some low-income people, with about 30 categories of eligibility including certain pregnant women, older widows and primary caregivers.

Instead of embracing traditional Medicaid expansion, Gov. Brian Kemp sought to grow the number of insured Georgians through a conservative framework; his program provides Me